Tourism Ministry launches mobile app for exploring cities

New Delhi: The Ministry of Tourism has launched a mobile application to enable its users to independently travel and experience 16 cities in the country.

The self-guided tour application ‘Incredible India Walking Tours’ was launched by the Ministry in collaboration with Genesys International Corporation and will cover 16 Indian cities including Agra, Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Coastal Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Patna, Pune and Surat. The facility will be extended to 36 cities by December, 2015.

The app enables users to sightsee free of cost at their own pace and convenience, with the help of walking tours curated by travel experts.

“We are extremely excited about this because it is the first time an app can enable users to discover India on their own. It’s free, easy to use and, most importantly, comes with 360 degree street views and information put together by a panel of experts. It’s like having a local take you by the hand and show you his city, at your convenience,” Tourism Minister Sripad Naik said.

The application, however, is only available on Blackberry mobile handsets. It runs on all BlackBerry 10 handsets including the Z3, Z10, Z30, Q5 and Q10 phones.

An Android version of the free application is also in the works and is expected to be announced in coming weeks, said a senior Tourism Ministry official.